New SebArts Virtual Open Studios, SAVOS

Tags

artists, California, community, Environment, flowers, gallery, garden, home, inspiration, journeys, joy, meditation, nature, originals, spirit, weekends

Aztec Dahlia Gardens, 36 x 36″, oil on canvas, SOLD, giclées available 

Art Collectors: you can now visit artists and buy art from the safety of your favorite armchair or get your mask and hand sanitizer to visit in person.

Please help test this virtual project by going to my online gallery https://sebartsvirtual.org/artists/connell/. 6 paintings at a time will be available directly from the SAVOS shop during September. Kindly share this news with friends who might enjoy the healing comfort of art, to visit online or to own, or who are simply curious. Let me know how this new site works for you.

My physical studio will not be open, but more images including oils, pastels, watercolors, drawings and giclée prints will be accessible via my website, Facebook, text, emails, phone, and Zoom. Please contact me any day this month (10 am – 5 pm) and I can help you navigate this virtual landscape. Links are at the bottom of the email.

Also my art is on the walls at Upstairs Art Gallery, Center Street next to Healdsburg Plaza, and Gallery at Corricks, 637 4th Street, Santa Rosa.

Limited outdoor appointments may be available to pick up art from my studio or to see a piece that calls to you in person. We will observe current Covid safety regulations as listed on the SAVOS website. Looking forward to in-person hugs in 2021!!

Each SAVOS artist’s page will show if their studio is open virtually or physically. There are about 137 of us! https://sebartsvirtual.org/

Check in on the website for virtual events, panel conversations, demos, videos. On Tuesday, Sept 15, at 1:00 pm, I  will be on a virtual panel with other SAVOS painters to talk about our artistic processes, motivations etc.  Please join us! You will need a zoom account. Join live

Wildflower Heaven, 2, oil on canvas, 30 x 30″, available on SAVOS website

Dual Businesses: Upstairs Art Gallery and Levin and Company Bookstore

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/8654233-181/dual-businesses-healdsburg-bookstore-serves?sba=AAS

Dual businesses: Healdsburg bookstore serves as grand entrance to art gallery

Levin and Company bookstore has been in business for 27 years and Upstairs Art Gallery opened six years later. While the original store was also on Center street, the move to the center of the block on the Healdsburg Plaza quadrupled their business.

The bookstore, which started selling used books, developed a committed following of loyal customers who asked it to order new books. Now, only the sidewalk cart holds used books and the store is filled with new publications.

Owner Aaron Rosewater has hung out in bookstores since he was an 11-year-old, first in the long-gone Toyon Books, where his mother Adele Levin worked, then in the store his mother started with business partner Jacquie Robb. He bought out Robb in 2001.

Adding an art gallery has complemented the bookstore. Walk through Levin and Company, head up the stairs and the conversion to art gallery begins on the walls and shelves of the stairwell carry some art objects and visual art.

The gallery began with artists from the Santa Rosa Art Guild who wanted to show their work. They saw the available space and created an artist-owned gallery.

Only 16 artists belong to the gallery at a time because of the available wall space. Each artist-owner pays monthly rent and a 20 percent commission to the gallery.

Current manager Carolyn Wilson has been in the position for seven years. The first manager was Phyllis Rapp, who just returned as a gallery artist. Over the years about 60 artists have been part of the gallery.

“It’s a perfect match — the gallery and books,” said Wilson.

Levin and Company and Upstairs Art Gallery are located at 306 Center St.

For more information visit upstairsartgallery.net or levinbooks.com.

 

 

 

 

The Human Race: Support The Living Room

Tags

caring, children, community, donation, Environment, home, homeless, inspiration, Mother, non-profit, spirit, women

I’ve recently joined a business referral networking group (a stretch and an education for an artist!). We are supporting The Living Room here in Santa Rosa through Sonoma County’s outstanding annual Human Race, a truly creative and open-hearted event. Some of the fun takes place on the pavement through efforts by thousands of runners and walkers, and some of the fun and good works take place behind the scenes, for example right here. (In 2016 there were over 8,000 participants with almost $600,000 raised to date for over 225 nonprofits who will benefit from the event. The first Human Race in 1981 raised $1,800.) I invite you to learn about the important services that the Living Room provides for homeless and at-risk women and children and to make a contribution if you are so moved. $10, $20, $50, or an amount of your choice. This is a straight donation fundraiser. No Pledges. Thank you so much for caring and helping our community thrive. Follow link to donate:
humanracenow.org/Participation/BNIMidDayPowerPartners

I’m excited to be offering two plein air painting workshops in May

Tags

barns, California, Environment, nature, spirit

These painting workshops will be held at stunning Sonoma County sites that are only accessible via the conservation groups that protect them from development, Pepperwood Preserve and Laufenburg Ranch. Painting in community, with guidance and support from an enthusiastic and practiced plein air painter, could be a great way to kick off your summer painting season or vacation time. You are welcome to join us for one or both sessions, whether you are an experienced painter or haven’t picked up a bush or pastel since childhood. Scientists, hikers, and students, painting and drawing deepen your powers of observation which translates to many disciplines.

Two Landscape Painting Workshops

Tags

barns, bucolic, California, Calistoga, creeks, Environment, expressionist, hillsides, impressionist, inspiration, Mt. St. Helena, nature, orchards, realist, spirit, techniques, tonalist, wildflowers

Recording & Expressing “Spirit of Place”

Sunday, May 7, 2017, 9am – 3pm
Pepperwood Preserve
2130 Pepperwood Preserve Road
Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Meet at the Bechtel House
$45 per participant ($40 for members)
For ages 13 and up

Explore plein air painting with artist and Santa Rosa Junior College instructor Marsha Connell. Deepen your naturalist and artist observational skills. Express your responses to Pepperwood’s verdant and blossoming spring landscape. Open to beginning painters, who will learn basics of working in the field, and experienced painters, who may expand their repertoire and enjoy support for finding their own voice. Demonstrations will be given in oil and pastel,  but students may use any drawing or painting media of their choice.

Marsha’s approach to landscape painting conveys the spirit of place and evokes the mood of the inner landscape. Marsha has also taught at Sonoma State University and at a variety of other venues in the US, Mexico and France.

A suggested materials list will be sent upon registration.

Reserve your spot

Painting Iconic Rural Landscapes

Saturday May 13, 2017, 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM
Class level: All levels
Class Size: 6-15
$60 per person, $45 per Sonoma Land Trust member

Learn how to convey the spirit of place and embody the rhythms and forms of the landscape in this plein air painting workshop at Sonoma Land Trusts’ legendary Laufenburg Ranch near Calistoga. Beginning and longtime artists alike can benefit from Marsha’s expertise and extensive history of teaching, which brings out the joy of the creative process.

Enjoy a day in the bucolic setting of Laufenburg Ranch in Knight’s Valley. Create a record of your experience, which might include the magnificent 1883 barn, native oaks, old orchards, creek and hillsides, even Mt St Helena, by painting in the field. Explore gesture, shape, composition, light and shadow. Beginning artists: learn the basics of using painting materials and composing images. Experienced painters: expand your repertoire of painting techniques and visual approaches, realist, tonalist, impressionist, expressionist. Demonstrations will be given in oil and pastel, but you may use any drawing or painting media of your choice.

Materials Required: You will be able to do this with simple minimal supplies, for example, just black and white or three primary colors (red, yellow, blue) of oil or acrylic, and one brush, or a basic small set of pastels, or any materials you may already have.

Sign up here

Landscape Painting at Pepperwood Preserve. May 15

Tags

abstract sensibility, art, brushstrokes, California, colorist, demonstrate, en plein air, Expressionism, Impressionism, joy, landscapes, Marsha Connell, nature, observation, oils, painterly, painters, paintings, Pepperwood Preserve, Realism, Sonoma county, voice, watercolor, weekends, wildflowers, workshop

There are just a few spots left. Sign up by Thursday May 12 noon!
Landscape Painting: Observation and Expression. Sunday, May 15, 9am – 3pm
Only $45 per participant ($40 for members)!
Ages 13+
Explore plein air painting with me! Deepen your observational skills and express your responses to Pepperwood’s verdant and blossoming spring landscape. The continuing rains have gifted us with wildflower joy this year!
Beginning painters: learn basics of working in the field. Experienced painters: expand your repertoire with elements of realism, impressionism, expressionism, with support for finding your own voice. Demonstrations in oil but you may use any media.